Skip to main content

This free 3D robot game could redefine how kids learn to code

It’s hard to get kids to code. Up until very recently, it was largely inaccessible, with little curricula in place and few teachers qualified to teach it. And even today, with all the progress we’ve made, it’s still complicated — I mean, come on, it’s literally a new language. But if coding could be as easy as playing a 3D game, maybe the children of the 21st century would have a whole new incentive to pick up a skill that is only becoming increasingly important. So here to save the day is Code Warriors, described as “a new 3D coding game designed with special analytics tracking for students and teachers to learn coding in and outside of the classroom.”

A product of Kuato Studios, already heralded as “the world’s leading learning-through-games studio,” Code Warriors is a JavaScript based game that is redefining how children can learn to code, but at school and at home. Available on Windows and Apple browsers alike, the new game is actually an extension of Hakitzu Elite, Kuato’s first coding game.

To play, kids must teach their robot warriors how to successfully complete a series of missions, all by way of JavaScript. Set in what the Studios call “a futuristic combat arena,” players learn how to “input increasingly sophisticated code” in order to help their avatars make their way across the arena and attack. “At the same time,” the company notes, “the player learns how to write and debug their program, and sees how using the most efficient code is beneficial.”

Recommended Videos

Better still, because Code Warriors is online and updates in real-time, teachers and parents can actually monitor their children’s progress, allowing them to determine which skills their young coders are excelling at, or need more help in. From algorithmic thinking to sequence and selection, Code Warriors gives instructors a mechanism by which to give students personalized feedback.

“Video game designers have been creating highly motivating learning environments for years,” David Miller, Director of Learning at Kuato Studios told me via email. “The same qualities that make a well-designed game motivating also make it an ideal learning environment. Games propel the player towards goals; players have to make choices, take actions, and experience the effect of these actions as they play.” And because video games feel more “risk free” to children, they’re “more likely to experiment and try different solutions until they find the right, or best, way to achieve their goal,” Miller added.

With the treasure trove of data Code Warriors provides on players, the video game meets what Miller calls “the holy grail of formative assessment,” one that is active, participatory, and critical. Indeed, Miller said, “the best game environments are designed around how we learn. As Confucius put it, ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.'”

As wonderful as Code Warriors sounded at first blush, I found myself a bit skeptical of the content of the video game — after all, Code Warriors, with its battles and its defeat of “opposing robots” sounded a bit, well, gendered. But Miller assured me, “We test our games rigorously in a variety of settings, from schools to clubs, and listen to what we are hearing from all sides.” Citing a recent Google report that notes, “encouragement and exposure are key controllable indicators for whether or not young women decide to pursue a computer science degree,” Miller pointed out that their testing determined that “girls are equally as engaged in games that feature robots and strategy — and yes, even battles — as boys!” So really, perhaps it’s my own internalized gender bias that raised red flags about the nature of the game.

“Kuato believes that digital and code literacy are key for the future of our collective economies,” Miller told me. “We feel that digital skills and digital literacy shouldn’t be seen as the preserve of the computer science classroom. Rather, digital literacy should be embedded across the curriculum, as the fourth literacy.” And with Code Warriors, we may be moving one step closer to that goal.

You can check out Code Warriors for free at CodeWarriorsGame.com.

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
What is a 3D printer, and how much do they cost?
A Monoprice MP10 3D Printer is creating an octahedron in blue plastic.

It's been a while since 3D printers became available and started allowing people to create 3D objects in the real world right from their own home.

If you're interested in getting a rundown of what 3D printers are, how they work, how much they cost, and what you could do with them, you've come to the right place.
What is a 3D printer?
A Monoprice MP10 3D printer creates an octahedron in blue plastic. Monoprice

Read more
YouTuber claims that this ugly 3D-printed mouse is actually the best for gaming
OptimumTech's Zeromouse alongside a regular mouse.

According to the YouTuber who made it, this 3D-printed mouse is one of the best gaming mice in the world -- but boy, does it look odd. OptimumTech designed the Zeromouse from the ground up by modding a Razer mouse with a 3D-printed shell that made it a lot more lightweight, and reportedly, more ergonomic.

The end result weighs just 25 grams, all thanks to the custom-made lightweight shell. The internals of the mouse belong to the Razer Viper V2 Pro, and OptimumTech doesn't seem to have made any changes to that, but the outside looks drastically different. In all honesty, it kind of looks like what would happen to a regular gaming mouse if you dropped it from three stories up and it fell apart.

Read more
South Park is getting a new game next year, and it’s a 3D action game
Cartman in South Park: Snow Day!

A brand new South Park game was shown during today's THQ Nordic Digital Showcase 2023. South Park: Snow Day! is a 3D isometric action game that supports multiplayer and will release next year.
SOUTH PARK: SNOW DAY! | Game Reveal Trailer
South Park has a somewhat rocky history with video games. Things started out with some bad titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but Ubisoft released the solid RPGs South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: The Fractured But Whole throughout the 2010s. THQ Nordic, which has dipped its toe into licensed games with two SpongeBob titles, first teased a new South Park game at the end of last year's showcase. We hadn't heard about the game again until today when the announcement for South Park: Snow Day! kicked off this year's presentation.
As its title suggests, South Park: Snow Day! follows Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny as they play with each other on a snow day and take things way too far, turning the town into a war zone. Strange Scaffold's Xalavier Nelson Jr. confirmed that he provided writing on the game. We see a little bit of gameplay in its reveal trailer, and it looks like a multiplayer isometric action game in the style of something like Diablo 4 or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Unlike the last two South Park games, this one's in 3D.

Outside of that, we don't know much else about South Park: Snow Day! Hopefully, we'll learn more at Gamescom 2023 and as it approaches release. South Park: Snow Day! will be released for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch in 2024. 

Read more